Textile dryers typically include conveyor belts that transport a textile item, such as a shirt that has been in a silk screening or other printing operation, through a heated drying chamber. The conveyor belt, configured as an endless loop, travels at a constant speed through the heated chamber to allow the ink in the textile to set or cure.
The drying chamber can take a significant amount of time at start-up to come up to the appropriate drying temperature. This is due in part because too much heat is exhausted by the conveyor belt running at its normal speed. Similarly, the chamber can take a significant amount of time cooling down at the end of a run. Again, this is due in part to the exhaust rate of the conveyor belt at normal operating speeds.
During a drying run, the heat chamber can sometimes vary in temperature. In such situations, textiles traveling on a conveyor belt at normal operating speeds can potentially burn or insufficiently dry depending on whether the temperature increased or decreased, respectively.
The present invention provides a textile dryer that is configured to modify the conveyor belt speed to optimize conditions in the heated drying chamber. The present dryer saves time and energy, and provides a more consistently finished product.